This Young Man Committed Suicide Because He Was Unable To Get New Currency For His Wife's Treatment

A young man allegedly committed suicide at his house in Neb Sarai on Thursday after failing to convert Rs 12 lakh in old notes he had accumulated for the treatment of his ailing wife, into valid currency. He was also depressed after a neighbor reportedly asked him for Rs 4 lakh to deposit his collection in the bank.

The body of Virendra Kumar Basoya, 25, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his house on Thursday afternoon. Basoya sold television sets in East of Kailash. Family members said he had been unable to collect money from people to whom he had sold his products on credit following the currency demonetisation and had to fall back on the Rs 12 lakh he had at home for his wife's treatment.

Last week, Basoya had tried to deposit the amount in a few banks in order to access funds to take his pregnant wife, Raunak, to hospital for treatment for the medical complications she had developed. However, the never-ending queues and the necessity of having to be close to his wife at home forced him to give up his efforts.

According to his wife, Basoya was also worried that he would have to pay a 200% penalty if he tried to deposit the sum because it was more than the exempted Rs 2.5 lakh. Basoya had approached a neighbour to help him deposit the money, but the neighbour demanded Rs 4 lakh as commission.

The young man's landlord, Rizwan, said that Basoya had refused dinner and then locked himself in his room on Wednesday night. On Thursday afternoon, his wife discovered that he had used her dupatta to hang himself from the ceiling fan. She alerted Rizwan and other neighbours, who cut down the body. He was already dead by the time they reached the hospital with the body. Police said that the body was handed over to the youth's friends on Thursday evening after an autopsy.

The cops have not recovered any suicide note from the house. They said they would go through the documents in the house to determine the source of the money Basoya had stashed.

Rizwan disclosed that Basoya had married Raunak a year ago and shifted to the house in Devli against the wishes of their parents. After some time Raunak, who was six months pregnant, developed some complications, Basoya's business also took a hit with people refusing to pay him in cash after the demonetisation of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. "He could not go to the banks to deposit the money because he could no